Solving the "Jewish Problem" |
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Hitlers dislike for the Jews was evident long before the start of World War II. His book, Mein Kampf, reveals the inner thoughts of Adolf and it is clear that he pinned most of the troubles in Germany at the time on the Jewish community, and his beliefs later formed the basis of a propaganda programme to turn the German nation against them in the years following his rise to power in 1932 as the German Chancellor.
PropagandaOnce Hitler and his Nazi Party took charge of Germany, little time was wasted in launching their propaganda campaign in Der Stürmer (meaning The Attacker) the weekly Nazi newspaper. At the bottom of the front page of each issue, the paper stated, in bold letters - "The Jews are our misfortune!". Other regular features in the same publication were cartoons of Jews, caricatured as hooked-nosed and ape-like, a classic dehumanising technique. The influence of the newspaper was far-reaching as by 1938 in the region of half million copies had been distributed weekly.
Hitler called for new elections soon after he became chancellor in an effort to get full Nazi control of the German parliament (the Reichstag). They used the apparatus in the government to terrorize the other parties, arrested their leaders and banned political meetings of opposition parties. On 27th February 1933, in the midst of the election campaign, the Reichstag building burned down. Dutchman Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested for the crime and swore that he had acted alone. Many people suspected the Nazis were ultimately responsible for this act of arson, the Nazis managed to blame the Communists, and subsequently turning more votes their way.
The fire at the Reichstag signaled the demise of democracy in Germany. Under the pretense of controlling the Communists, the government abolished individual rights and protections and: assembly, the right to privacy, freedom of the press and expression were nullified. When the elections were held on 5th March, the Nazis won a majority in the government when they received nearly 44 percent of the vote from the German people, and with 8 percent offered by the Conservatives. The Nazis moved quickly to consolidate their power into a dictatorship over the nation. On 23rd March, the Enabling Act was passed, sanctioning Hitler’s dictatorial efforts and legally enabling him to pursue them further. A formidable propaganda machine was created to silence their critics and they developed a sophisticated police and military force.
Hitler had absolute control of Germany by the end of 1934 and his campaign against the Jews in top gear. The Nazis claimed the "pure" German culture had been corrupted by the Jews with their "foreign" and "mongrel" influence. They portraying them as cowardly and evil whilst simultaneously portraying Germans as hardworking, honest and courageous. The Nazis claimed that the Jews were heavily represented in commerce, finance, literature, the press, theater and the arts, and were responsible for the weakened economy and culture of Germany. The enormous propaganda machine created a racial anti-Semitism, something that was very different from the long-standing anti-Semitic tradition of the Christian churches. Isolation of Jews from SocietyThe evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin combined the Nazi racial theories were combined to justify the treatment of the Jews with an emphasis on the survival of the strongest and fittest. Those who fit that profile were destined to rule and conversely the weak destined for extinction.
Adolf Hitler began to use legislation and terror, to restrict the Jews; burning books by Jewish authors, removing Jews from their professions and public schools, excluding them from public events, confiscating their businesses and property. The Nuremberg Laws which were enacted on the 15th September 1935 were the most infamous of the anti-Jewish legislation. The laws formed the legal framework to exclude the Jews from German society and the progressively restrictive Jewish policies of the Germans. Many Jews attempted to leave Germany and England, Belgium, France, Holland and Czechoslovakia took in thousands between them but getting away from Europe more problematic. Even if they obtained the necessary documents, Jews encountered stiff immigration quotas almost globally and they would often had to wait many months or even years before they could leave. Out of desperation, ,any families sent their children first. To compound the plight of the Jews when representatives of 32 countries met in Evian, France in July 1938 to discuss the refugee and immigration problems created in Germany by the Nazis, nothing of real substance was decided done and it was obvious to Hitler that no one wanted the Jews in their own country and that he would meet very little resistance in implementing and enacting on his Jewish policies. Europe was in effect sealed to most legal emigration by the autumn of 1941 and the were essentially trapped. |